Questions and Answers

Ford Taurus Air Bag Light Q. Good Morning Vincent, I have a few questions. I have a 1993 Ford Taurus GL wagon with a V-6 3.8 liter engine and automatic transmission. It has about 90,000 miles on it. It is fuel injected and has ABS brakes I don't know what P/S means but it does have A/C and cruise control which both do not work. It also has rack and pinion steering.

Just recently I had a new head gasket replaced on my Ford Taurus and now the airbag light goes on and constantly flashes. What is causing this and is this something that the repair shop caused? Also is the car safe to drive?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm seriously considering taking this car off the road in the spring if it lasts that long. Is it worth fixing and how much should I expect to pay?

Thanks,
Dulce

A. It's trying to tell you something. It found a fault and by counting the flashes you can determine what the code is.

• The diagnostic monitor illuminates the air bag indicator for approximately 6 seconds when the ignition switch is turned to the ON position and then turns it off. This indicates that the air bag indicator is operational. If the air bag indicator does not illuminate or stays on or flashes at any time, a fault has been detected by the diagnostic monitor.
• Diagnostic trouble codes may not be displayed for approximately 30 seconds after the ignition switch has been switched to the ON position. This is the amount of time it takes the monitor to perform all tests and verify system faults, if present.
• Diagnostic trouble codes are displayed as a series of flashes and pauses of the air bag lamp. Each diagnostic trouble code, or series of flashes represent a two digit number. For example, a Diagnostic Trouble Code 32 is displayed as follows:

Flash Flash Flash - (one second pause) - Flash Flash - (three second pause)...
Flash Flash Flash - (one second pause) - Flash Flash - (three second pause)...

• If a system fault exists and the Air Bag Indicator is malfunctioning, an audible tone will be heard indicating the need for service. The tone is a series of five sets of five beeps. This DOES NOT indicate a diagnostic trouble code 55. It means that the indicator is out and a system fault exists that requires service.
• If a fault exists that makes unwanted air bag deployment possible, the air bag diagnostic monitor has an internal thermal fuse that will blow automatically. This removes all power to the air bag deployment circuit. The air bag indicator will flash the appropriate code to indicate the suspect circuit.

Since you had the head gasket replaced, and they disconnected the battery, I suspect it might be flashing a code 12 which means the battery was disconnected. Just go back to them and they can reset the light with a scan tool. Or if they can't, the Ford Dealer can. There should be no problem with it. The air bag won't deploy while driving and will still deploy as designed if the vehicle is involved in a crash.

I can't answer your last questions. The best thing to do is to let a mechanic take a look at it and then give you an estimate of what it will cost to fix the problems he found. That will tell you wheather the car is worth keeping or not.

You can read my article: How Much Is Enough? to get a better idea of what to do.